The fun facts thread.

[brunothepig]

Did you know, I am currently drinking latte? I really hope none of you did...
I got nothing. I'm sorry everyone. I'm rather tired. I know tons of useless crap, why can't I think of anything? Well, except stuff that's going to pop up in this thread ten times.

so how is that latte?

It was pretty damn good, for an instant latte. Now I'm just enjoying a bag of maltesers. And watching Angel.

While I'm here, long shot, but has anyone recently installed Puzzle Pirates from Steam and encountered that Java crash error? Any fixes known?

 

[Tallim]

The first bomb dropped by the Allies onto Berlin in WW2 killed Berlin Zoo's only elephant.

England has a higher population density than Japan.

The traditional cat "meow" is only used when "speaking" to humans.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

No it isn't. Goldfish do not get pregnant. They lay eggs rather then carry live young.

I heard it was a twat.

Again, it isn't. For reasons I've already mentioned. Sorry, but you wasted those four days.

Mate I'm on your side for the exact same reason! Byaaaa!

...but seriously, 75 year old hermit crabs. Wow.

 

[GrimTuesday]

OT: Thomas Edison invented the word 'hello' as a greeting over phones to replace ahoy-hoy (which is still used by Mr Burns in the simpsons.)

Thomas Edison invented the word hello specifically to give us something to say when we answered the telephone. "hello" is actually a mispronunciation of the word Haloo which is basically the hunting version of Fore! in golf (basically means get your head down... unpleasantness incoming!)

Hivemind?

The Simpsons were created after Matt Groening was called in to pitch a cartoon series after his success with the Life-In-Hell cartoon strip. Originally he intended to use the rabbit from the strip, but was concerned with losing the rights to the character so he came up with the Simpsons pretty much on the fly.

The Simpsons are named after the members of his family with Bart being an anagram for Brat. Interestingly, when it came time to name Grandpa, Matt Groening wanted no part in it and actually left the room during the discussion. The other staff members came up with Abraham... the name of Matt Groening's actual Grandfather.

Many of the characters in the Simpsons are named after famous Portland landmarks. For example, Sideshow Bob's full name is Bob Terwilliger, which is a road in Portland, as is Flanders (NE Flanders Rd. has been vandalized many times to read NEd Flanders Rd.)

 

[Tallim]

A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

No it isn't. Goldfish do not get pregnant. They lay eggs rather then carry live young.

I heard it was a twat.

Again, it isn't. For reasons I've already mentioned. Sorry, but you wasted those four days.

Quite correct. Goldfish lay eggs. Although there are several species of fish who do have live births and some of those *can* look like goldfish which I suppose is where this particular "fact" started.

 

[navyjeff]

There was once a natural nuclear fission reactor, found in Oklo, Gabon. It was discovered when the uranium ore mined there showed that it was partly depleted. It started 1.7 billion years ago and ran for over 200,000 years.

 

[Flare Phoenix]

The Simpsons were created after Matt Groening was called in to pitch a cartoon series after his success with the Life-In-Hell cartoon strip. Originally he intended to use the rabbit from the strip, but was concerned with losing the rights to the character so he came up with the Simpsons pretty much on the fly.

The Simpsons are named after the members of his family with Bart being an anagram for Brat. Interestingly, when it came time to name Grandpa, Matt Groening wanted no part in it and actually left the room during the discussion. The other staff members came up with Abraham... the name of Matt Groening's actual Grandfather.

Many of the characters in the Simpsons are named after famous Portland landmarks. For example, Sideshow Bob's full name is Bob Terwilliger, which is a road in Portland, as is Flanders (NE Flanders Rd. has been vandalized many times to read NEd Flanders Rd.)

1.) Milhouse's middle name comes from Richard Nixon (Milhouse Nixon Vanhouton (I am terribly mispelling that).

2.) During the first season it was going to be revealed that Marge was hiding rabbit ears under all that hair.

3.) Originally, Krusty the Klown were going to be revealed as an alter-ego of Homer Simpson. Basically it would mean Bart unknowningly worships his father, despite thinking very little of him in real life.

4.) Whenever Bart and Lisa are shown younger, the number of Spikes in their hair would decrease.

5.) The Simpsons was nearly cancelled before it began. The first episode in the series, Some Enchanted Evening, came back with horrible animation (you can see it on the Season 1 Boxset extras) and for a while it looked like the show wouldn't work. However, when the next episode (I can't remember which one it was) came back they saw the animation for that one was alright and the show was fixable. Some Enchanted Evening was pushed to the end of the season, and Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was made the first episode as the show was now airing around Christmas due to the delays. Because that is the episode Santa's Little Helper first appears, and it was originally intended to be the 6th or 7th episode, Santa's Little Helper doesn't appear for most of the first season.

6.) The Simpson's staff do not care about the lack of continuity in the show

 

[Orange Lazarus]

Fanta was invented by the coca-cola corporation so they could sell soda to nazi germany.

 

[GrimTuesday]

The Simpsons were created after Matt Groening was called in to pitch a cartoon series after his success with the Life-In-Hell cartoon strip. Originally he intended to use the rabbit from the strip, but was concerned with losing the rights to the character so he came up with the Simpsons pretty much on the fly.

The Simpsons are named after the members of his family with Bart being an anagram for Brat. Interestingly, when it came time to name Grandpa, Matt Groening wanted no part in it and actually left the room during the discussion. The other staff members came up with Abraham... the name of Matt Groening's actual Grandfather.

Many of the characters in the Simpsons are named after famous Portland landmarks. For example, Sideshow Bob's full name is Bob Terwilliger, which is a road in Portland, as is Flanders (NE Flanders Rd. has been vandalized many times to read NEd Flanders Rd.)

1.) Milhouse's middle name comes from Richard Nixon (Milhouse Nixon Vanhouton (I am terribly mispelling that).

2.) During the first season it was going to be revealed that Marge was hiding rabbit ears under all that hair.

3.) Originally, Krusty the Klown were going to be revealed as an alter-ego of Homer Simpson. Basically it would mean Bart unknowningly worships his father, despite thinking very little of him in real life.

4.) In order to make Bart and Lisa look younger, the number of Spikes in their hair would decrease.

5.) The Simpsons was nearly cancelled before it began. The first episode in the series, Some Enchanted Evening, came back with horrible animation (you can see it on the Season 1 Boxset extras) and for a while it looked like the show wouldn't work. However, when the next episode (I can't remember which one it was) came back they saw the animation for that one was alright and the show was fixable. Some Enchanted Evening was pushed to the end of the season, and Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was made the first episode as the show was now airing around Christmas due to the delays. Because that is the episode Santa's Little Helper first appears, and it was originally intended to be the 6th or 7th episode, SLH doesn't appear for most of the first season.

6.) The Simpson's staff do not care about the lack of continuity in the show

You ser, know far too much about The Simpsons.

The Janitor in Scrubs was origenally going to be just a figment of JD's imagination, but he was so popular that they decided to scrap that and just make him a normal person... well, kind of normal anyway. His actual name is Glenn Matthews.

 

[Dreadman75]

Carrots were orginally purple. The orange carrots arose out of a genetic mutation.
All modern-day cows are descended from Aurochs.

I thank Movie Bob for those. His Big Picture episodes are really fascinating.

Here's another one: The word Agnostic is derived from the term Gnostic. Which was once used to describe certain religious sects that while they didn't necessarily believe in god, still found the Bible to be an source of excellent advice on how to live and followed it's message.

 

[JFrog84]

In Shrewsbury, England, it is still legal to shoot a welshman who is crossing the Welsh Bridge into town. But only with a Crossbow.

Not sure about this one as it also appears to be legal to shoot a welshman in Chester with a longbow after midnight.

OT: Traffic lights, steam rollers and public phone boxes were all invented in Liverpool. Also ants don't sleep.

 

[Arkvoodle]

The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets.

Their true purpose is sinister.

 

[Flare Phoenix]

The Simpsons were created after Matt Groening was called in to pitch a cartoon series after his success with the Life-In-Hell cartoon strip. Originally he intended to use the rabbit from the strip, but was concerned with losing the rights to the character so he came up with the Simpsons pretty much on the fly.

The Simpsons are named after the members of his family with Bart being an anagram for Brat. Interestingly, when it came time to name Grandpa, Matt Groening wanted no part in it and actually left the room during the discussion. The other staff members came up with Abraham... the name of Matt Groening's actual Grandfather.

Many of the characters in the Simpsons are named after famous Portland landmarks. For example, Sideshow Bob's full name is Bob Terwilliger, which is a road in Portland, as is Flanders (NE Flanders Rd. has been vandalized many times to read NEd Flanders Rd.)

1.) Milhouse's middle name comes from Richard Nixon (Milhouse Nixon Vanhouton (I am terribly mispelling that).

2.) During the first season it was going to be revealed that Marge was hiding rabbit ears under all that hair.

3.) Originally, Krusty the Klown were going to be revealed as an alter-ego of Homer Simpson. Basically it would mean Bart unknowningly worships his father, despite thinking very little of him in real life.

4.) In order to make Bart and Lisa look younger, the number of Spikes in their hair would decrease.

5.) The Simpsons was nearly cancelled before it began. The first episode in the series, Some Enchanted Evening, came back with horrible animation (you can see it on the Season 1 Boxset extras) and for a while it looked like the show wouldn't work. However, when the next episode (I can't remember which one it was) came back they saw the animation for that one was alright and the show was fixable. Some Enchanted Evening was pushed to the end of the season, and Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was made the first episode as the show was now airing around Christmas due to the delays. Because that is the episode Santa's Little Helper first appears, and it was originally intended to be the 6th or 7th episode, SLH doesn't appear for most of the first season.

6.) The Simpson's staff do not care about the lack of continuity in the show

You ser, know far too much about The Simpsons.

The Janitor in Scrubs was origenally going to be just a figment of JD's imagination, but he was so popular that they decided to scrap that and just make him a normal person... well, kind of normal anyway. His actual name is Glenn Matthews.

Lol I've watched the audio commentaries far too many times... I'll move onto something else now.

1.) The character of Fraiser was never meant to be that big, but people loved him so much in Cheers that he eventually got his own spin-off show.

2.) The character of Niles (Fraiser's brother) was only created because David Hyde Pierce looked so much like a younger Fraiser (I believe he was originally hired to play Fraiser in flashbacks, but was upgraded to a main character.

3.) The character of Roz was originally meant to be played by Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe from Friends.

4.) Maris was originally intended to be played by an actual actress, but the staff soon realized no actress could accurately portay the image they had conveyed of Maris throughout the show.

5.) Kelsey Grammar voices Sideshow Bob in the Simpsons, while David Hyde Pierce voices Bob's brother Cecil and John Mahoney voices their father. In Cecil's first appearence, there was originally going to be a character by the name of Maris, but was ultimately removed when NBC insisted that "you NEVER see Maris".

 

[akfg666]

DNA stands for deoxyribonucleicacid
I learnt that in year 8 and will never forget it

 

[Anarchemitis]

Most aircraft have over twenty different top speeds. They're called V-Speeds [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_speeds].

All aircraft have a top speed which they usually never reach, because they shouldn't reach it. It's called the VNE, or 'Velocity-NEVER EXCEED'.

 

[Paul]

The Toyota car company had a tradition of using different versions of the word 'crown' for their automobiles. For example, the Toyota Corona's name was derived from the Latin word for crown. The Camry's name came from an anglicized pronunciation of the Japanese word for crown.

The Subaru car company logo depicts the Pleiades star cluster.

The Peugeot 1007 cannot be called the 'one-double-oh-seven', as this violates the copyright of the James Bond franchise.

The Ford Pinto was infamous for its design flaw, where damage to the rear of the vehicle could cause it to go up in flames. It was suggested that Ford were aware of the flaw, but deemed it more financially effective to just let the deaths continue.

Ford brought their Sierra to the United States under the name of the 'Merkur Scorpio'.

The Ford GT40 was designed purely to spite the Ferrari Le Mans race team, after the company backed out of an acquisition deal in the 1960s.

 

[akfg666]

The Simpsons were created after Matt Groening was called in to pitch a cartoon series after his success with the Life-In-Hell cartoon strip. Originally he intended to use the rabbit from the strip, but was concerned with losing the rights to the character so he came up with the Simpsons pretty much on the fly.

The Simpsons are named after the members of his family with Bart being an anagram for Brat. Interestingly, when it came time to name Grandpa, Matt Groening wanted no part in it and actually left the room during the discussion. The other staff members came up with Abraham... the name of Matt Groening's actual Grandfather.

Many of the characters in the Simpsons are named after famous Portland landmarks. For example, Sideshow Bob's full name is Bob Terwilliger, which is a road in Portland, as is Flanders (NE Flanders Rd. has been vandalized many times to read NEd Flanders Rd.)

1.) Milhouse's middle name comes from Richard Nixon (Milhouse Nixon Vanhouton (I am terribly mispelling that).

2.) During the first season it was going to be revealed that Marge was hiding rabbit ears under all that hair.

3.) Originally, Krusty the Klown were going to be revealed as an alter-ego of Homer Simpson. Basically it would mean Bart unknowningly worships his father, despite thinking very little of him in real life.

4.) In order to make Bart and Lisa look younger, the number of Spikes in their hair would decrease.

5.) The Simpsons was nearly cancelled before it began. The first episode in the series, Some Enchanted Evening, came back with horrible animation (you can see it on the Season 1 Boxset extras) and for a while it looked like the show wouldn't work. However, when the next episode (I can't remember which one it was) came back they saw the animation for that one was alright and the show was fixable. Some Enchanted Evening was pushed to the end of the season, and Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire was made the first episode as the show was now airing around Christmas due to the delays. Because that is the episode Santa's Little Helper first appears, and it was originally intended to be the 6th or 7th episode, SLH doesn't appear for most of the first season.

6.) The Simpson's staff do not care about the lack of continuity in the show

You ser, know far too much about The Simpsons.

The Janitor in Scrubs was origenally going to be just a figment of JD's imagination, but he was so popular that they decided to scrap that and just make him a normal person... well, kind of normal anyway. His actual name is Glenn Matthews.

Actually it is not Glenn Matthews because not 30 seconds after telling JD that is his name, another person walks past and says "hey Tommy" meaning the Janitor is giving out false names and so we never know his real name

 

[FamoFunk]

The length from your wrist to your elbow is the length of your foot.

I'm out of proportion, my foot is smaller ;_;